ProgramSummary/Abstract:ThemissionoftheCBItrainingprogramattheUniversityofMaryland,Baltimore County(UMBC)istoprovidetraineeswithcuttingedgeresearchopportunitiesandhandson,cross-disciplinary trainingacrossnotonlydiscipline,butdepartmentallines.UMBCisaleaderinpromotingdiversitywithinscience, technology,engineering,andmathematics(STEM)fieldsatboththeundergraduateandgraduatelevelsandthe CBIprogramhashadsignificantsuccessinproducingstrongandsuccessfulPhDstudentsthathavegoneonto excellentpositionsinacademia,biotechandpharmaceuticalcompanies,governmentagenciesandpatentlaw. UMBC?s CBI program has four participating programs: UMBC?s Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, the Biological Sciences and Molecular and Cellular Biology programs, and UMB?s Pharmaceutical Sciences, The CBIprogramwasinitiallyfundedin2004with15studentsandhasgrownsignificantlysincethattime.Currently thereare48studentsparticipatingintheprogram-32secondyearandbeyondfullmembers,and16firstyear students.Ofthese,43areTGEandtwelvearefromunderrepresented(UR)groups.Fivestudents(4arefrom UR groups) are currently supported by the NIH training grant, however all of the full members (2nd year and beyond) participate in the same programmatic requirements as those supported on the grant. The students selectedtobesupportedontheNIHgrantaretypicallyintheir3rdyearandbeyondtoaideinhavingmoretime to make progress on their cross training. There are also currently 43 participating faculty from the three Departments. The CBI program requirements include doing (i) hands on cross disciplinary research in a collaborator?s laboratory that gives added value to the students? dissertation research, (ii) taking an upper level course in anotherdiscipline,and(iii)presentingatnationalandinternationalmeetingsinadditionto(iv)participatinginthe weekly course, CHEM 715 ?Issues at the Chemistry Biology Interface?. Because the students who are not supportedontheCBIgrantstillhavetodothesamerequirementsastheNIH-supportedFellows,thePDhas leveragedthesignificantprogrammaticsupportprovidedbythethreedepartments,theDeanofUMBC?sCollege ofScienceandMathematics,UMBC?sVicePresidentforResearchandUMBC?sProvost,totaling$100K.This providestravelandsuppliesmoneyforthestudentstopresenttheirresearchatconferences,aswellastouse thefundsfortheircrosstraining.Insummary,theCBIprogramplanstocontinuetoprovideameaningfultraining experienceforalargecohortofstrongstudentstoincreasethedepth,breadthanddiversityofthebiomedical workforce.